Clutch bolt won't thread
 

I've been having a devil of a time with my clutch replacement. I was completely unable to get the transmission to slide into the clutch disc while the disc was bolted to the flywheel. Following the sage advice of a friend, I put the clutch cover over the input shaft, slid the clutch disc onto the input shaft splies, then bolted the tranny up to the motor with relative ease. Using the starter hole, I have the pins on the flywheel into the holes in the clutch cover, and I've got 5 of the six bolts threaded and finger-tight. The sixth bolt, however, will not thread. The threads on the bolt are fine, and I had all six bolts torqued to FSM specs before, when I was trying to mate up the tranny with the clutch already on the flywheel. It starts to bite, but as I give it a little more turn, it seems to pop back out. I've tried other bolts (that threaded perfectly into the other flywheel threads) to no avail. I'm pretty sure that somehow (and, honestly, I have no idea how!) the threads on the flywheel have gotten thrashed. It's not a straight-shot into the bolt-hole from the starter, so I can't use a socket and just give a good push to try to get it to start, and I can't fit a tap in there to try to clean the threads.

I think the next time I get under the car, I'm going to try to put a drift on the head of the bolt, give it a nice hard push, and start turning the bolt with a wrench to see if it will get past the thrash and start threading. Obviously I can't run with only five bolts, and I'd really really really really prefer to not remove the transmission again -- although if that's what it comes down to, then hey, that's life. Does anybody have any sage advice for trying to clean out that thread? Would finding a self-tapping screw in the same size and thread pitch do any good for me? Do they even make self-tapping screws in that size?

So you are trying to bolt the clutch to the flywheel thru the starter hole with the transmission still bolted to the engine?


Hmmm,


I normally would drop the transmission as described in the FSM to install a clutch.


John

While I'm sure the FSM procedure works really well when you've got the car on a lift, I'm just not convinced it's the best way when you're trying to bench-press an 85lb tranny. I had two guys helping me, and with the clutch cover bolted up, we just could not get the transmission spines to align with the clutch grooves. A co-worker of mine who spent a good deal of his younger years working as a mechanic suggested this method as the routine way guys at the dealership used to put trannies on to save a boat-load of time. And, honestly, it worked great (took about 15 minutes compared to an hour and a half of wiggling with no sucess before), until I ran into these thrashed threads. (Which, incidently, is still a mystery to me, since the threads are pretty recessed in the flywheel and, as far as I know, nobody been going around trying to hammer things into them...)

You needed one of these.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/pictures/f-clutch/dummy.jpg

A clutch alingment tool. Or a spare tranny input shaft.

You can find it at the bottom of this page:

http://www.mazdatrix.com/f86-92nt.htm

Another suggestion for where you are at now. Loosen all the other bolts then try to start the stubborn one. Then tighten as the FSM says by going back and forth across that clutch pressure plate.

FWIW:

I did a clutch swap in less than an hour by myself (car on jack stands using a floor jack to raise the tranny) using that alignment tool.

aren't there longer clutch bolts, like 2 of them? i know in my flywheel on my repu there are 2 longer bolts that also go to 2 deeper holes, and if u don't have them in the right spots this will happen

Oh, I used the clutch alignment tool. I'm not sure how anyone would even give it a try without one.

I like that idea, though! I'll pop all the bolts out, back the clutch over off the flywheel a bit, then pop them back in, real loose, starting with my trouble maker.

Thankya!

You can get an alignment tool at your local auto parts store as well. They are cheap, like $5. RotaryAXer's suggestion about loosening the others is a good idea as well. Try then to wiggle the PP and get the stubborn bolt aligned and started.

Also what Elysian said is also valid. Check your bolt lengths.

Also, if you are trying to get the splines to line up it helps if the tranny is in gear so that you can turn the output shaft with your hand as you slide the input shaft on. That will help get em lined up. Maybe you did this also but that was the only difficultly I had.

That is the way I have always done it, takes me 2 hours and a 6 pack of beer. Now doing a Fiero takes me about 6 hours but that is a long story.

Just be careful, you don't want to cross thread them bolts.


I will keep my fingers crossed for you.


John

i had the same prob, and by do just that i got it to go in.

so make sure its in gear before you take the shifter out.

carl.

Isn't one bolt longer then the others, oh thats presure plate. you really want to bolt the disk and presure plate using the alignment tool at the same time. you don't want to mickey mouse the clutch, it could make problems for you. there's alot of force going on and plus it's spinning. you don't want to have to tear it all down again, so take your time and do it right. for safety. IMO

When I replaced my clutch I didn't have a lift I had the car on jack stands and I bench pressed that tranny while my little brother put bolts. No i'm not strong either I'm 6'1 and 140#. Well be sure to check the the bolts their are 2 of them that longer. Good luck I hate working under cars I need an overhead lift

Two holes on the pressure plate (clutch cover) should be slightly smaller than the rest. The two alignment bolts go through these holes (they're the bolts with the unthreaded shank). It's supposed to be a really tight fit to help keep the pressure plate aligned as you're tightnening it. Always check that the alignment tool can be pushed in and out of the splines as you carefully torque the P plate down. You'll know if it's askew if the alignment tool becomes difficult to move. It's happened to me and helped me to correct my technique. :)

If one wants to make it easy on themselves to re-install a tramsmission. ?Instead of jacking up the front end, jack up both ends that makes the car level. So instead of trying to push the transmission up hill fighting gravity, level and it slides right in.